


Sacraments

by kaci3PO



Category: The Following
Genre: 1x04 tag, 28 to Create, F/M, M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-12
Updated: 2013-02-12
Packaged: 2017-11-29 01:53:53
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 291
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/681379
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kaci3PO/pseuds/kaci3PO
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The thing about Joe is that being one of his friends isn’t all that different than what Jacob believed in before.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sacraments

The thing about Joe is that being one of his friends isn’t all that different than what Jacob believed in before. Joe could be kind and benevolent if you were worthy and he could be destructive and wrathful if you weren't. He welcomed all who came to him, but punished those who did not. He required sacraments, a baptism in blood and the confirmation of death in order to consecrate yourself unto him, and confession, opening yourself up to him and letting himself see everything inside. He required penance when you'd done wrong.

But he was patient. Joe could wait for the faithful to find the bravery in their hearts. The time would come when he'd call on each of them, but until that moment came, he was willing to give them time.

Jacob never adored him more than in the moment when Joe told him he could wait until he was ready.

So Emma presses knives into his fingers, shows him how to stab and slice through skin. Paul's strong hands lock over his, pressing his thumb against the artery on neck after neck, letting Jacob feel exactly how tight his grip has to be. Together they show him how easy it is to set a fire. When he settles on acid, he thinks their faces might break from the magnitude of their smiles.

It takes a lot of acid to make Megan stop thrashing, but Jacob thinks the end result is beautiful. It makes a statement and Joe had always said that was the most important thing. They bury her later that night, consecrating her body unto the ground. Consecrating Jacob unto Joe.

There would be no more confession of penance required. Jacob was finally holy unto his Lord.

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the 28 to Create challenge, day 4: "fairytale, cultural or religious story." My brain hung up on the Eucharist being the consummation of the body and blood of Christ, and how that could relate to the blood offerings to Joe to cement one's place in the cult -- and namely the fact that Jacob has yet to make that confirmation. Then I suddenly had this whole head canon about how Jacob's mother was a devout Catholic and he went to mass daily until she died and even then he went every Sunday, until he realized that the things he needed to confess (killing animals, possibly being interested in a choir boy in addition to liking the pretty girl who sits in the same row as him every Sunday) weren't like the things other congregants came to confess.
> 
> And then I just said fuck it and wrote a drabble about the fact that the followers worship Joe as basically a god.
> 
> I'm driving the bus to hell. I'm okay with that.


End file.
